Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Part 1. The Gandhian Era, 1915–1950
1. Gandhi Chooses Ahmedabad
2. Gandhi Assembles New Leadership
3. Vallabhbhai Patel Builds the Congress Political Machine
4. Anasuyaben Sarabhai Engages Ahmedabad's Working Classes

Part 2. The Westernizing City, 1950–1980
5. Ambalal Sarabhai and Kasturbhai Lalbhai Build an Industrialized, Westernized, Prosperous, Cultured, World-Class Company Town
6. Indulal Yagnik Challenges the Gandhian Consensus

Part 3. Creativity and Chaos: Economic Restructuring—Political Violence—Culture Conflict, 1969–
7. Communal Violence, 1969
8. Chimanbhai Patel Provokes the Nav Nirman Movement, 1974
9. The Mills Close, the TLA Falters, and the Municipal Corporation Goes Broke
10. Madhavsinh Solanki Invokes the Politics of Caste and Class
11. Ahmedabad 2000: The Capitalist City Out of Control
12. Godhra, the Gujarat Pogrom, and the Consequences

Glossary
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Promotional Information

The history of a city and the evolution of a nation

About the Author

Howard Spodek is Professor of History at Temple University. He is author of The World's History and editor (with Doris Meth Srinivasan) of Urban Form and Meaning in South Asia.

Reviews

"Brings into focus the forces of social, political, economic, and cultural change which have transformed India in the 20th century." Lynn Hollen Lees, University of Pennsylvania "A major contribution to the history of modern India and to urban studies in general... A scholar's model for future historical studies of cities, especially those in the developing nations." Owen M. Lynch, C. F. Noyes Professor Emeritus, New York University "Lucidly written, beautifully illustrated and meticulously supported with facts and figures, this is an important addition to the academic literature on Gujarat." - Subrata K. Mitra, Contemporary South Asia, November 2012 "[T]he paucity of literature on the city of Ahmedabad--a distinct, fascinating, and notable major urban center--is striking. Kenneth L. Gillon's Ahmedabad: A Study in Indian Urban History (1968) was the last noteworthy monograph of the city in English. Apart from filling a lacuna, Howard Spodek's Ahmedabad: Shock City of Twentieth-Century India is an important contribution to the urban histories of Asia and a must-read for anyone interested in the history of Ahmedabad and Gujarat... [T]his is a compelling account of Ahmedabad, ably written by a historian whose long engagement with and affection for the city shine through without clouding his intellectual insights. Putting a human face on the city's leading figures who built the city and its institutions, caused or led movements, maintained calm or provoked violence, Spodek takes us on an engrossing rollercoaster ride through Ahmedabad's turbulent and complicated history in the twentieth century. He also reminds us all of the diversity and importance of so many South Asian cities which have been heretofore overlooked by scholars." - Preeti Chopra, H-Asia "Spodek presents a compelling sketch of the last hundred or so years in a city that has been called the "Manchester of India." In Spodek's presentation of the city, we see a microcosm of some of India's major political, economic, and social trajectories: the rise of Gandhi and the independence movement, the drive for modernity and industrialization in postcolonial India, the collapse of the labor unions and the restructuring of the economy within new global markets, and struggles with communal violence and corruption. Spodek successfully balances his portrayal of a city shaped by a concentrated body of power elites within a larger global context, placing Ahmedabad at the center, but recognizing the external forces playing out in the process. In this way, as a case study in urban history, Ahmedabad is instructive both in content and method." - Samantha Christiansen, H-Urban, September 2013